Controversial

Islamabad, July 4 (AP): North Korea received centrifuges from Pakistan in a 2000 shipment supervised by the army during the rule of President Pervez Musharraf, disgraced nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan said today.

Khan told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that the uranium enrichment equipment was sent from Pakistan in a North Korean plane that was loaded under the supervision of Pakistani security officials.

His claims contradict his 2004 confession that he was solely responsible for spreading nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya — and Pakistan’s repeated denials its army or government knew about Khan’s nuclear proliferation activities.

Khan said the army had “complete knowledge” of the shipment of used P-1 centrifuges to North Korea and that it must have been sent with the consent of Musharraf, the then-army chief who took power in a 1999 coup.

“It was a North Korean plane, and the army had complete knowledge about it and the equipment,” Khan said. “It must have gone with his (Musharraf’s) consent.”

Khan’s allegations, reported earlier today by the Japanese news agency, Kyodo, are his most controversial yet and could prove deeply embarrassing for both the army and Musharraf, a key ally in the US-led war on terror.

Army and foreign ministry spokesmen declined to give immediate comment today. Musharraf’s spokesman said he would respond to Khan’s allegations after speaking to the President.

Khan is regarded as a hero by many in Pakistan for his key role in the programme that gave it the Islamic world’s first nuclear bomb in 1998 — seen as a deterrent against India.

After his 2004 confession and televised statement of contrition, Khan was pardoned by Musharraf but has been kept under virtual house arrest at his spacious villa in Islamabad. Since a new civilian government took power after February elections, eclipsing Musharraf, the retired scientist has increasingly spoken out in the media.